FIELD PERFORMANCE AND FRUIT QUALITY OF PRIMOCANE FRUITING RASPBERRY CULTIVARS GROWN IN SERBIA

Abstract

The main focus of our study was to investigate differences in ripening time, vegetative and generative potential (number of canes per meter of hedgerow, cane height and diameter, number of fruiting laterals per primocane, yield per primocane and per meter of hedgerow) as well as fruit quality traits (fruit weight, index of fruit shape, number of drupelets per fruit, soluble solids content, total acids, total and inverted sugars, and sucrose content) in four newly introduced primocane fruiting raspberry cultivars (‘Erika’, ‘Paris’, ‘Versailles’, ‘Satine’) that are internationally competitive to both growers and marketers in the fresh markets. Studies were conducted at a commercial raspberry plantation located near Kraljevo (Serbia), in the period of 2015-2016. Results from this study showed that the average earliest harvest time was observed in ‘Versailles’ (11^th August),
whereas ‘Paris’ was the latest cultivar (10th September). Significantly higher cane height was registered in cvs. ‘Erika’ and ‘Paris’ (213 and 204 cm, respectively) in comparison to the two other tested cultivars. ‘Erika’ expressed the lowest values of all generative characteristics, while ‘Paris’ yielded much higher per primocane (840 g), followed by ‘Versailles’ (805 g). The latter one is also characterized by the highest average fruit weight (4.93 g) and the lowest level of soluble solids, total and inverted sugars (10.9%, 8.18% and 6.94%, respectively), whereas ‘Satine’ had significantly higher total acids content of the fruit (2.18%) compared to the rest cultivars. In general, cvs. ‘Versailles’ and ‘Paris’ demonstrated the best productivity and outer or inner fruit quality.